True North Initiative: News Scan 09 08 17

TOP STORIES

Could U.S.policy cause a wave of immigration and asylum claims in Canada?

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced he will end a policy known as DACA, which has caused great turmoil for tens of thousands of undocumented people in the U.S. Could that mean another wave, or even tsunami of people crossing illegally into Canada and claiming refugee status, or simultaneously a wave of proper channel immigration requests? Many U.S, “Dreamers” would score well on Canada’s Express Entry” immigration policy according to Guidy Mamann. (Radio Canada)

Trump’s plan to end DACA could lead to influx of ‘Dreamers’ in Canada

President Donald Trump's threat to end protections for those who entered the U.S. illegally as children could spark a new wave of immigration and asylum requests, some analysts warn. If that happens, they say, Canada's already stressed systems would come under further pressure and potentially intensify a backlash against newcomers. (Globe and Mail)

Canada urged to put ‘Dreamer’ system in place

President Donald Trump’s threat to end protections for those who entered the U.S. illegally as children could spark a new wave of immigration and asylum requests, some analysts warn. If that happens, they say, Canada’s already stressed systems would come under further pressure and potentially intensify a backlash against newcomers. (Sault Online)

Canada eager to take in Dreamers, should immigration stalemate continue

Just across the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit, Michigan is Windsor, a city of over 200,000 people located in Canada's Ontario province. It is a place Dreamers from America could move to, now that President Trump has declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program will end in six months. Marwan Zarif's Canadian immigration consulting business, called Canada By Choice Immigration Consultants, has reportedly seen lots of interest. (FOX 10 Phoenix)

An official with the U.S. Central Command public affairs office confirmed to Postmedia that Farah Mohamed Shirdon — who in 2014 fled to Syria and later became a de facto spokesman of the notorious terror organization — was killed in July 2015 in Mosul, Iraq. News of the 24-year-old’s death confirms what many had suspected of the Calgarian’s fate, who came to prominence three years ago when he burned his Canadian passport in an ISIS propaganda video, issuing threats of jihad against western nations, including his home country. (Calgary Herald) (CTV) (Calgary Herald)

Federal government expands communications outreach to Hispanics in U.S. to curb asylum surge

A Liberal MP is heading to Los Angeles this week for a pre-emptive strike against misinformation about Canada's immigration system circulating in the Spanish-language press that officials worry could inspire a new wave of asylum seekers. (CBC)

Anti-Semitic graffiti appears near Hwy. 400 in York Region for 2nd time in a week

York Regional Police are appealing for witnesses after “Hitler was right!” was spray painted near Highway 400 in York Region for the second time within a week. On Thursday morning, York police responded to several calls reporting “hateful” graffiti spray painted on the Aurora Road overpass, which is visible to drivers heading southbound on Highway 400 after the Davis Drive exit. (CP24)

A website serving Calgary Muslims has raised eyebrows by making a lengthy pitch for female circumcision, arguing the practice has “immense” value and blaming its poor reputation on Jewish-controlled media. The provocative blog post by a foreign Islamic scholar drew strong rebukes this week from researchers and advocates concerned about female-genital mutilation, and from a major Jewish group. (National Post)

It's taking the RCMP longer than anticipated to digitize Canada's national database of criminal records

The RCMP says it will now need until 2020 to finish uploading nearly half-a-million backlogged files to a nationwide criminal-record database, despite previously saying the job would be done next year. Criminal justice experts say they are troubled by how much time it has taken the RCMP, which manages the database, to eliminate the backlog for a database that is relied upon not only by police officers, who use it to check suspects’ backgrounds, but also by employers and volunteer organizations who use it to vet job applicants and the courts who use it to make bail and sentencing decisions. (National Post)

OTHER STORIES (Domestic and International)

Overwhelming number of Canadians wanted to help Syrian refugees

So many Canadians volunteered to help the thousands of Syrian refugees coming to Canada starting in 2015 that resettlement agencies could not cope. After initially promising to take in 25,000 Syrians the government had admitted over 40,000 by January 2017. (Radio Canada)

'We were ecstatic': Family's permanent residency reconsidered

As their kids headed back to school in Manitoba this week, an American family under the threat of being forced out of their Canadian home and business received hopeful news. "Immigration decided that they would hear what we have to say about Karalynn, so they reopened our file," said Jon Warkentin. (CBC)

PM defends proposed tax reform as doctors complain of negative impact

Justin Trudeau got a small taste of the kind of grief his backbenchers have been getting over the government’s plan to end what it calls unfair tax advantages for wealthy small business owners. During a townhall meeting Wednesday night, the prime minister was lectured by two female doctors about the negative impact they contended the proposals will have on hard-working middle class Canadians. (IPolitics)

Prime Minister Justine Trudeau said the current tax system is not fair and proposed changes will help support Canada’s middle class. But one woman at the UBC Okanagan town hall meeting Trudeau attended Wednesday night said changing the tax system will force her, a new physician, to choose between her career and having a family. (Global)

Conservative caucus debates strategy for fall, but also their own policies

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer pledged Thursday that when Parliament resumes later this month he'll hammer the Liberals on three of the hot button issues of the summer: taxes, asylum seekers at the border and a payout to Omar Khadr. "Our job from now until the 2019 election and beyond is to convince Canadians there is a better way," he said during the party's two-day strategy meeting. What a Conservative better way might look like is also beginning to take shape. (CTV)

Trump tweets reassurance about DACA at Pelosi's urging

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urged President Donald Trump Thursday to tweet reassurances to the immigrants who benefit from a program his administration is ending. And the president obliged, in the latest instance of Trump doing the bidding of leaders of the opposition. The president tweeted, "For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the 6 month period, you have nothing to worry about - No action!" (CTV)

Freeland urges Myanmar military, Aung San Suu Kyi to help Rohingya

Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland is urging Myanmar’s military to work alongside leader Aung San Suu Kyi to stop the ongoing persecution of that country’s Rohingya minority. “Appreciating their shared responsibility to lead the fledgling democracy of Myanmar, Canada firmly reminds State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the military leadership of their duty to work together and act responsibly in the face of the current humanitarian crisis,” Freeland said in a statement Thursday. (CTV)

Aung San Suu Kyi 'squandering' her political clout by failing to protect Rohingya minority

She has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and is one of just six people to have received honorary Canadian citizenship. But Aung San Suu Kyi has lately become a source of frustration and bitter disappointment for human rights campaigners around the world. Suu Kyi became a global symbol of the struggle for democracy during the years she spent under house arrest, a prisoner of the military regime of Myanmar. (CBC)

Many Canadians with homes in Florida likely excluded from insurance requirements, disaster relief

Florida is the U.S.’s most popular destination for Canadian homebuyers, according to a 2017 report by the National Association of Realtors. More than half a million Canadians own property there, according to a 2013 tally by the Bank of Montreal. (Global)

The eye of Hurricane Irma grazed the Turks and Caicos Islands on Thursday shaking buildings after it smashed a string of Caribbean islands as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, killing 14 people and leaving thousands homeless on its way to Florida. (Global)

FEMA will run out of money before Hurricane Irma hits, U.S. Senators warn

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency will run out of disaster assistance funding on Friday unless Congress approves more money, two Florida senators warned on Thursday. As Hurricane Irma barrels through the Caribbean on its way to an expected landfall on Florida on Sunday, the Senate approved a measure 80 votes to 17 to more than double funding to $15.25 billion to FEMA and local block grants to handle natural disasters. (Global)

North Korea Openly Threatens Electromagnetic Pulse Attack for First Time

North Korea has, for the first time, threatened to wage an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack against the United States. Such an attack has the potential to cause catastrophic damage to North America, Canada, the West, and many of its neighbors. North Korea threatens to wipe out the United States on a regular basis through its state media. However, this is the first time North Korea has openly threatened to use an EMP weapon. (Breitbart)

Massive Equifax data breach hits 143 million

About 143 million US customers of credit report giant Equifax may have had information compromised in a cyber security breach, the company has disclosed. Equifax said cyber-criminals accessed data such as Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses during the incident. (BBC)

A major United States Holocaust Memorial Museum study of the Obama Administration’s Syria policy was put on hold last night after portions of the study given to Tablet were greeted with shock and harsh criticism by prominent Jewish communal leaders and thinkers. (Tablet Mag)

EDITORIAL AND OPINION PIECES

Anthony Furey: RCMP needs a big structural overhaul, says new report

It’s time for big changes to the RCMP, a new paper from a crime and national security academic argues. Although “reboot” is the best way to describe the overhaul proposed by Christian Leuprecht, a professor with the Royal Military College, in a report published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute appropriately titled “Force 2.0”. Canada’s federal police have been plagued by front page challenges for years: Poor compensation and recruitment, internal sexual harassment allegations and the Mayerthorpe and Moncton shootings of officers, among others. (Toronto Sun)

As Hurricane Irma bears down on the Florida coast, a monster defined as the biggest and most powerful storm in recorded history, it is not unfair to ask what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would do if such an explosive and obliterating scenario unfolded here. It has been 64 years since Hurricane Hazel brought devastation to what was then the Toronto bedroom community of Mississauga, and 19 years since the last “Storm of the Century” when freezing rain and ice twisted hydro towers in the Ottawa and Montreal area like match sticks, cutting off electricity to hundreds of thousands for days on end. (Toronto Sun)

Farzana Hassan: Aung San Suu Kyi fails to lead on the Rohingya crisis

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s report released the other month on the plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya warned of a danger of radicalization of this group in the Western Rakhine province of Myanmar. The beleaguered Rohingya, of whom the majority are Muslim and a small minority Hindu, have been living as outcasts within Myanmar for decades. Many observers assumed the election of Aung San Suu Kyi would bring some respite for the Rohingya. (Toronto Sun)

Holly Nicholas: “Muslims in Calgary” website whitewashes FGM: Is this part of a larger problem in Canada?

An article published by the website "Muslims in Calgary" defends female genital mutilation and even asserts it’s a beneficial Islamic practice. The piece also delivers some anti-Semitism, suggesting the harmlessness of the procedure is overlooked due to the Islamophobic Jewish controlled media. (Rebel)

Ezra Levant: Canadian Muslim terrorist killed in Iraq — before he could become the next Omar Khadr

Hey, do you remember that poster boy for multiculturalism and vibrant diversity and open borders? That “Calgary boy” named Farah Mohamed Shirdon. You might have seen the Islamic State propaganda video, burning his Canadian passport. Now reports come that Shirdon was killed in a U.S. airstrike near Mosul in 2015. (Rebel)

Stephanie Levitz: Will Scheer’s ideas to stop asylum seekers at the border work?

"It would have a practical consequence on dealing with the problem as it happens. It would also send that much-needed signal to all those in the United States who think that they can just come over and be in a better situation." — Conservative leader Andrew Scheer on his proposals to stop the flow of asylum seekers across the Canada-U.S. border. (Spec)

It took less than 48 hours for more than 6,000 people to add their names to an online petition launched Monday that calls for Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be stripped of her honorary Canadian citizenship. By the time the House of Commons reconvenes on Sept. 18, petition sponsor Fareed Khan says he hopes the momentum will be sufficient to convince Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to revoke the honour, bestowed upon Suu Kyi at a time when she was one of the brightest hopes in the worldwide struggle for democracy and human rights. (Macleans)

Rachel Marsden column: The dangerous virtue-signaling of Western leaders

Do you ever see a leader of a Western nation pontificating and wonder why he or she seems so divorced from your own day-to-day reality? You go to work every morning, take responsibility for your life, follow the rule of law ... and wonder why these leaders whom you watch on TV seem to inhabit a different planet. (Richmond Times)

Geoffrey Johnston: Are we any safer today?

The jihadist strikes on the United States of Sept. 11, 2001, stand as the worst co-ordinated terrorist attacks in world history, taking the lives of nearly 3,000 innocents, including at least 24 Canadians. As the 16th anniversary of that tragic and horrific day approaches, it is important to recall the events that set off a titanic struggle between liberal democracy and Islamism, a radical, religiously motivated political ideology that seeks to impose rule by Islamic law on the entire world. (Whig)

James Di Fiore: Niki Ashton's Obsession With Identity Politics Could Destroy The NDP

Under the late Jack Layton they found a way to thrive, gobbling up ridings in Quebec as their cane-wielding leader hobbled across the nation and inspired millions of Canadians to take a chance on the little party that couldn't. They decimated their main rivals, the Liberal Party of Canada, and showed the country that a politician can inspire large swaths of the public long before a man named Justin Trudeau burst onto the scene. (Huffington Post)

“I want to be clear,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the Liberal party’s recent caucus gathering in Kelowna. “People who make $50,000 a year should not pay higher taxes than people who make $250,000 a year.” Trudeau was defending the government’s proposed small business tax changes, which would eliminate such practices as business owners paying themselves dividends, sprinkling income among family members, or holding certain investments — such as real estate — through a corporation. (IPolitics)

A familiar mix of government incompetence and opposition shamelessness — together with a large dollop of special-interest shinola — have combined to turn a package of relatively modest tax changes into a government-shaking PR disaster. (National Post)